Pat Riley vs. Zion Williamson Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Zion Williamson and Pat Riley, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Who had the better rookie season? Who had best stats in their 10th season? Who won a championship first? These questions and many others, are answered here.

Pat Riley played 9 years in the NBA, 5 more than Zion Williamson, who played 4. Pat Riley had the first of his seasons in 1967-68, while Zion Williamson had his rookie season in 2019-20. With that starting point, here you can take a look at each of their seasons side by side and compare how their careers evolved in achivements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Comparison Season by Season
Jump to season: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9
Rookie Season
	Pat Riley	Zion Williamson
Season	1967-68	2019-20
Team	San Diego Rockets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	-	All-Rookie First Team
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	80	15.8	7.9	-	-	2.2	1.7	-	-	-	2.6	3.1	8.3	.379	-	-	-	1.6	2.5	.634
Zion Williamson	24	27.8	22.5	2.7	3.6	6.3	2.1	0.7	0.4	2.5	1.8	8.8	15.0	.583	0.3	0.6	.429	4.8	7.4	.640
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Zion Williamson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 2
	Pat Riley	Zion Williamson
Season	1968-69	2020-21
Team	San Diego Rockets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Rockets Lost West Div Semis	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	56	18.3	8.8	-	-	2.0	2.4	-	-	-	2.6	3.6	8.9	.406	-	-	-	1.6	2.4	.672
Zion Williamson	61	33.2	27.0	2.7	4.5	7.2	3.7	0.9	0.6	2.7	2.2	10.4	17.0	.611	0.2	0.6	.294	6.0	8.7	.698
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	5	15.2	7.4	-	-	2.2	0.4	-	-	-	2.6	3.2	7.4	.432	-	-	-	1.0	1.2	.833
Zion Williamson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: Zion Williamson didn't play in 2021-22.

Season 3
	Pat Riley	Zion Williamson
Season	1969-70	2022-23
Team	San Diego Rockets	New Orleans Pelicans
Honors & Awards	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Did Not Play

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	36	13.2	5.3	-	-	1.6	2.4	-	-	-	1.9	2.1	5.0	.417	-	-	-	1.1	1.5	.727
Zion Williamson	29	33.0	26.0	2.0	5.0	7.0	4.6	1.1	0.6	3.4	2.2	9.8	16.2	.608	0.2	0.7	.368	6.1	8.6	.714
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Zion Williamson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Season 5
	Pat Riley	Zion Williamson
Season	1971-72	-
Team	Los Angeles Lakers	-
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	NBA Champion	-

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Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	67	13.8	6.7	-	-	1.9	1.1	-	-	-	1.6	2.9	6.6	.447	-	-	-	0.8	1.1	.743
Zion Williamson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Pat Riley	15	16.3	5.2	-	-	1.9	0.9	-	-	-	2.5	2.2	6.6	.333	-	-	-	0.8	1.1	.750
Zion Williamson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-